Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! After last week’s less than stellar start, we’re back to the uneven but intriguing baseline that is a regular season of Supergirl. There’s a lot going on this season and I appreciate the set-ups we’re getting, even if some of them rely on retconning the execution of previous season’s arcs. . .but we got more Brainy and Nia! Can’t go wrong with Brainy and Nia.
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Alex Can’t You See, You’re Just the Girl for Me
I’m still not a fan of the way the Alex/Kelly relationship happened. It was super fucking rushed with very little acknowledgement within the show that, yeah, this is happening fast. Couple that with Kelly’s near non-existent personality and being literally defined by standing next to Alex and her brother, and I’ve basically written the whole thing off as the writers needing to fill the relationship quota in the show with Kara having spent the whole of last season without one. It reads as cynical and calculated versus the better established Nia and Brainy connection.
That said, two episodes in and Kelly has grown exponentially. They’ve firmly established her within the fabric of the world, given her motivations and something to do outside of her relationship with James and Alex. . .And because of that, they have to do damage control via blueberry allergies and an Alex meltdown I couldn’t see because my TV feed cut out for a good half minute and the footage was unrecoverable. (I missed some crucial moments there.) It’s a good way of addressing the rushed nature of the relationship, making the point that not all relationships are formed through a measured and slow build up like Brainy and Nia’s, and if that is the case, then it must be reckoned with.
Alex is a nervous person in her personal life and seeing this insecurity come out is humanizing. It will probably also never be brought up again because CW shows have the emotional memory of a goldfish except when 100% plot necessary BUT it’s a good way of dealing with the cards dealt by last season while still being hampered by that execution. . .and also Kelly’s acting which every so often slips into seeming deeply unconcerned about everything and everyone. . . I’m sorry! Ow! That tomato hurT!
2. I Call It My Mind Palayce
On the J’onn side of things, we have him dealing with his heretofore unknown brother, a fact Ma’alefa’ak reminds us of every time he opens his CG’d mouth (BROOATAAHHHTEERRR.) Actually, can I talk about that for a bit? Because for the first time in a long time the Supergirl martian CG look real bad. Like, normally it’s standard network quality, but there was something so utterly lifeless this time around. Seriously. I know it’s a difficult job, especially when you’re not given the budget (and thus the time and workers) to make the textures and models more animated but damn son, in that flashback scene, we could’ve had cardboard cutouts on popsicle sticks with more emotion than these three lifeless husks. Ma’alefa’ak awkwardly grunts at J’onn and that’s the extent of things until he steps through the portal and emotes. . .kinda.
It was a huge distraction and it was all I could think about until I sat down to write because, that scene out of the way, we learn a lot about Martian history, both secret and not, as well as more about Ma’alefa’ak, such as the white martian he was working with and the fact that for some reason he’s taken the form of a child but awkwardly speaking with dual voices? Another baffling decision but OK, whatever.
My bigger question is, did he betray the green Martians like they say? Or was it all a set up? Or maybe he did but he did it for love since he was protecting and talking to this white Martian with a lot of familiarity? Also also, did that Martian die? I blinked and missed it and then Ma’alefa’ak was talking about them killing his comrade. He’s also so petty! Like, when he gets shot by Alex, he just kinda growls again and, like a child, pushes Kelly off the roof. I laughed at that! Not at Kelly being pushed off, though she was in no real danger, this is Supergirl and they’re not gonna fridge one of their leading lesbians. . .Right? RIGHT? God I hope they don’t screw this up like they did with Maggie.
Continued below*ahem*
Anyway, yeah, the way they played that scene made me laugh. I don’t know if they’re doing this on purpose to make him appear to be as a child or if it’s just the way they shot the episode. I’m leaning the latter cause very little here felt intentional.
3. Snip, Snap, There Goes the Frontal Lobe
WHAT THE FUCK LENA?
OK, so, I said last time that I was super not jazzed about Lena’s heel turn this season. I’m still not, especially in the “I hate Supergirl” category because it was contrived as hell to get her here and I feel a great disservice to who the character was striving to become in order to give us another “evil” Luthor. I am apparently the only one who feels this way so I’m going to take a minute to defend and complicate my position a little.
I don’t hate that Lena is taking a more antagonistic and adversarial role this season, in fact that part feels very well established. She’s always had friction with the undying optimism of Team Supergirl and seasons 2-now DEO and her work has always skewed mad scientist with a hint of control issues. Seeing her lean farther into that is an interesting position to take, especially now that we have a better idea of what she’s doing. Last season, she was playing with the Haron-El, killed someone (who accepted the risks but still,) and ended up on Supergirl’s shit-list because of it. That, coupled with Lex and Eva’s multitude of betrayals, left her in a vulnerable place, where she felt she could not trust anyone around her. It still doesn’t make me believe she’s embrace the Luthor family traits of worldwide manipulation and petty and complicated vengeance plans but wanting more control, that I buy.
So she built something she could trust: Hope. As made clear by her statement about the impartiality of code and algorithms (to which I laugh and then tip my hats to the writers for this nice character flaw,) Lena is putting her trust in only the things she creates.
. . .But why such a vendetta against Kara? I think much of my problem is that all this steaming and stewing happened off screen during the season break. Lena’s internal conflict and the complicated emotions she felt was never made manifest on the screen. We have that one line at the end of “Will the Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up?” that vocalizes what would happen with one more betrayal but Kara being Supergirl is a reveal that requires more digestion and for us, the audience, to see that digestion.
Lena is a smart, smart person. Getting to this point, to the point of petty and complicated plots to RUIN Kara’s life, that doesn’t feel like Lena. The wanting to replace everyone’s “evil bits” feels like the next step for a broken Lena. There is no struggle with Kara, however. This is KARA, her friend, and it’s not like Kara did what Eve did and worked with Lex. There would,or perhaps should, be a different more nuanced reaction that we were never given access too. Instead, all we get is the hurt and the anger. Lena would do far more rationalizing before settling on this course of action and by denying us access to that process, we are denied access to the full arc and thus the emotional resonances are not there.
Even after Kara confesses, the complexities of Lena’s inner workings are hidden from us. Maybe I’m not reading the performances correctly and buying into her reasoning to Hope about why she didn’t oust Kara. Maybe it’s that decision that is supposed to reveal to us that she is, in fact, conflicted and her actions speak louder than words. Her plowing ahead with her project to mind control Eve, or perhaps replace her, and, from there, expand out to the whole world, is still born from her pain, which one apology, no matter how tearful, cannot fix remains intriguing and has me far more on board with Lena’s turn than before, since it’s less a turn and more of a *ugh* pivot.
I’m still miffed at how we got here. It was a contrived set up and would have been far better served as the result of Lena being told by Kara that she was Supergirl, lessening the betrayal but not obviating it.
Continued below4. Over the Pond and Through the Rojas, to Douche-Bag’s Desk We Go
William Day is an interesting addition to the cast. While Rojas is stock antagonist boss who represents an easy target — seriously, she talks about reporting on a special election elitist while saying fashion is low-brow? — Day is a bit more complicated. For starters, he’s straddling the line between Mon-El levels of assholery and voicing some legitimate points. He’s a brownnoser who was pulled into the company to be Rojas’ voice on the staff but he also volunteers at the soup kitchen, works late, and is clearly up to something journalistic. His points to Kara about doing the work are legit, as the show hasn’t given us a lot in the way of Kara doing legit journalism or, more specifically, grunt work and day-to-day journalism.
This isn’t helped by the first two season’s terrible handling of her journey to journalist, which portrayed her as far more entitled than she is and rewarded the character not for doing good journalism, which we are told she does but never see her do it, but instead for complaining about being treated like a newbie which, well, she was at the time. It also had Snapper Carr take over Cat Grant’s role in the worst way possible.
But enough rehashing. . .OK one more point. Kara seems to revert to this “I know better than you” attitude again this season with Day and Rojas. She did this with Lena and Alex and just about everyone so I’m starting to accept that it’s a part of her, though I think it’s unintentional and a result of the complicated conflicts being fed through a simplified scenario and script. She genuinely does know better than Rojas, and to an extent Day, but the way the show goes out of its way have Kara blow up at the big boogeyman Day reads less as him deserving it and more of redirected anger.
Kara sees Day as Rojas’ stooge, which is true and fair but she should admit when she’s wrong and, in this case, it’s that she does disappear from work. It’s work foisted upon her by a boss intent on crushing her rather than utilizing her talents as a real ass reporter but its work nonetheless. The fight on her part is just and the anger and frustration justified but, as with Lena, seeing the complex and vulnerability and leaving the “I’m too good for this” attitude by the wayside would do leagues for the humanity of Kara.
But seriously, Day is a huge dickbag and I feel little sympathy for him, though I have a feeling the show wants that to change.
5. I Saw the Greatest Minds of My Generation Destroyed by Bento
OK, this has gone on for A LOT of words so I’ll keep this point short. Brainy and Nia remain the best and Poet Brainy was hilarious but also I am very frustrated that the entire friction of this plot comes down to an inability to communicate. It’s frustrating to watch and while there are a lot of good gags, and I appreciate that they don’t seem to be leaving this as a one episode thing, Nia not being brutally honest with Brainy, which she knows he needs, just rankles me, though unlike the Lena stuff, I think it fits with her character.
Nia doesn’t want to be too confrontational and doesn’t want to hurt Brainy but she’s gotta just rip the bandage off and tell Brainy in clear terms that, well, it’s all too much and that not every day CAN be the best day ever and that smother is not really a word with positive connotations.
That about does it for now! Whew, I wrote a lot this week. Thanks for making it to the end with me! What did you all think about this episode? Do you see Lena’s plot as contrived and annoying? Or do you agree that it’s the most interesting part of this season thus far? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you again in a week for more Martian memories and maybe some better Kara/Lena interactions. Until then, stay super y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
Brainy: “Even without spicy Tuna, I will venture to make each day the best ever. . .which is an impossibility.”
